Discussion Topic

In doing as she did Jan demonstrated great strength and purpose. Perhaps there will be one, or maybe even two youngsters out there, when faced with the momentary satisfaction gained from taking a risk, will think of Frank and the huge price everyone pays when there is loss.

Funny, how several pages from the old Coonyard Register can tie-in a list of personalities, eras, sagas and tales.

We have Cochrane's epic with Sacherer, Chela as part of his early climbing career and Boo who was rejected by Frank for an early Apron ascent. Good to see Qamar, Raymond, Kamps, Rowell and frequent Coonyard aficionado Beck in the picture to boot.

Register courtesy of the Mountain Record Collection of the Bancroft Library UC Berkeley.

Here is a 2001 NYT reference, both to Frank's death, and his accomplishments in physics and rock climbing:

"Over the years physicists have given their names not only to the phenomena of physics but also to routes up obstacles of rock. Theorists at CERN, the leading European particle physics laboratory, refer to the Sacherer frequency and the Sacherer method for computing something called ''bunched-beam instabilities'' in a particle accelerator. And climbers in Yosemite tackle the Sacherer Cracker, part of a route up the treacherous El Capitan. All these landmarks were named for Dr. Frank J. Sacherer, a theoretical physicist at CERN, who was a world-class expert on the behavior of particle accelerators."

As you can see, he was spoken of as a "world class scientist."

I find it interesting that Pratt made a comment about the meaning of climbing, that he loved figuring out the mechanics of the moves, that in some ways his approach to climbing was like Franks.

Winter climbing is growing in popularity in this area. Last winter there were two important climbs that have not so far been reported. ln March, 1975, J. Reilly Moss made the first winter ascent of the Ice Cliff Glacier and Couloir of Mt. Stuart (9,415ft.), while at the same time Craig McKibben and Jay Ossiander made the first winter ascent of the North Ridge. Earlier. McKibben and Roy Farrell had made the first true winter ascent of Liberty Bell in the Northern Cascades, though this had previously been climbed in late March (just outside the true winter season) by another team. Another first (true) winter ascent was achieved this February on Mt. Rainer (14,410ft.), when Dusan Jagersky and J. Reilly Moss climbed the Central Rib of the Willis Wall. Dragontail Peak's Hidden Couloir had its first winter ascent on February 6 and 7, by Skip Edmonds and Dick Hefferman. On February 7, Cal Folsom and Don Heller repeated the route in a day, but the ascent was marred by tragedy when Heller, a well-known North-West climber, was killed on the descent via Aasgard Pass. Mt. Stuart was again the focus of interest when Paul Ekman and Joe Weiss made the first winter ascent of the 50º Stuart Glacier Couloir for about two-thirds of its length. The pair then traversed east on mixed rock and ice, finishing up the North Ridge. On Colchuck Peak (8,705ft.), Greg Markov, Paula Kregal, Skip Edmonds and Clark Gerhardt climbed the steep couloir at the head of the Colchuck Glacier. A steep headwall formed an obstacle at the top of the couloir, and the climbers turned this by a traverse to the right.

In addition to these climbs, there was also a lot of activity on the lower and more accessible peaks in the Snoqualmire Pass area, notably on The Tooth, Chair Peak and Mt. Thompson. Clearly, there is a considerable latent interest in Cascade winter climbing whenever the weather allows.

I can't believe today is the first time I ever read this thread. I can't think of any historical thread on Supertopo that is more insightful, and I've only made it through the first ~200 posts so far. But alas I must break away to continue prep for tomorrow's big adventure chasing Sacherer's shadow in the valley. Even though I'm not done reading, I had to bump this for quality!

He launched into an hilarious account, in the patented Herbert style, of their early repeat ascent of the NWF of Half Dome. There is no way to reproduce it here, as a story told by TM is performance art of the highest level. Here is the best part of the story:

TM had been frightened at the risks that Sacherer had been taking all the way up the route and his anxiety was building as they ascended. They get to Thank God Ledge and it's Sacherer’s lead. Sacherer puts nothing in to protect that lengthy traverse and TM is really worried now. He tells Sacherer to put something in, but Sacherer sneers, “It's easy."

Finally Sacherer clips into a fixed pin in the corner at the end of the traverse, a piton placed by Robbins and company on the first ascent a few years earlier. Frank pulls out his aid slings and TM, now terrified, yells across,

“Better test it!”.

Sacherer is visibly incensed at this impertinence . He clips in, weights the pin and “ping!” it pops.

Frank disappears out of sight, the rope finally coming tight with great force after several long seconds. TM is left to try to cope with the disaster. He thinks it unlikely that Frank could survive the fall and if he did , he is seriously injured.

TM’s mind is racing: there is no one in the valley to do a rescue. The rangers do not have the expertise; there are only a handful of people in the world who could manage it and he checks off each one: Robbins is in LA, Pratt has just left, etc.

He hears a voice below and miraculously, Frank is ok and he slowly climbs back to the belay.

Nails and zBrown, thanks for your help with the identification. Yes, that's me with the fancy and versatile YPCC towel. You could never have enough of those.

As I have said before, Frank was a bit of an enigma. Off the rocks he was a gentle and friendly person. Apparently when he climbed he had a different persona. On saying "Climbing now [Shazam]" he was transformed from a quiet Clarke Kent scientist into his ultra hardman alter-ego, Superclimber. Perhaps that's what it takes. I have only the fondest of memories.

So I'm beginning to think the photo has to come down since there is no permission.

That being said and done, Mr. Denny's website is time well spent for history afficianados. Lots and lots of photos (121 photos). Clicking your mousee a couple hundred times is a very good price to pay. Patronize the artists whose works you enjoy.